books.google.com - Chronicles the imaginative, phantasmagorial adventures of a young woman, Raquel, the daughter of a Brazilian-Jewish parents, a prize convent-school student, and lover of Miguel...https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Gods_of_Raquel.html?id=CJIeAQAAIAAJ&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareThe Gods of Raquel

About the author (1988)

Scliar was born and still lives in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. A physician since 1962, Scliar started his career as a writer telling stories about his experiences as a young doctor. He is a prolific writer and has produced more than 10 novels, many of which have won literary prizes. He studied at the Yiddish College in Porto Alegre and went to a Catholic school for his secondary studies. This childhood experience provided the imaginative background for many of his stories. His writing has much of what he called "his Jewishness": "As much as possible I live in peace with my Jewishness. I have extracted from it what it has of the best: fantasy, ethical substance, and above all, humor" (Escrever & Viver). The Centaur in the Garden is a story about a centaur who is Brazilian and Jewish, a fantasy of the half-horse, half-human child who grows into adulthood in search of his identity.